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Ewart Ceranov Harding HCL OBC was a Kymurian politician and revolutionary who was a key political figure in the Kymurian Revolution, Great Schism, and subsequent government. After his peaceful removal from power by the nascent Empress, his assassination officially marked the end of the Technocratic era, and the beginning of the Second Imperial Era. Early Life & Military Career Harding was born to a middle-class family of legal professionals in Saffira City. He attended the King Frederick School and the Seminary of Mott, where he excelled at topographical and theological studies. The young Ewart was a keen student who often participated in extra-curricular activities. However, he was noted for being very dismissive of politics. He was kicked out of the Seminary's debating team for never speaking. Neither of the two subjects he studied were options that led to a stable career, however, and at the age of 18, Harding entered the Monsra Chamber of Juristic and Royal Law, and graduated three years later with an Honorable and Learned Degree, then moved back to Saffira to privately complete the doctoral studies necessary to become a high-court lawyer, with the intention to eventually become a professor. After a further 2 years, (the exam did not have a set amount of study time before it, one could take it whenever they had learned the necessary materials) he officially became Dr. Ewart Harding HCL (High Court Lawyer) and passed the Court Bar examinations. However, rather than immediately practising law, Harding enlisted into the new Metropolitan Military Academy in downtown Saffira, a move which greatly confused his family. He later revealed that while he enjoyed legal studies, his real passion was Topography, which he could study at the MMA and hopefully go on to put to use as a field officer. Later that year he joined the 34th Regiment of Infantry as a Captain of Artillery, and retired five years later due to a sparkpowder accident which caused a debilitating concussion and damage to his left eye. He now required a monocle to see properly and would frequently have brutal headaches. Political Career At the age of 28, Harding entered politics shortly after leaving the army, by taking permanent employment as legal representative of the Young Kymurian Liberal Party, which espoused the creation of a common parliament chamber alongside the Noble Council. By all accounts, he enjoyed the now calm and steady nature of his life. While he broadly agreed with the principles of the Young Liberals, he still did not much care for politics and was really only an adviser to the party bosses who ensured they abided by all rules governing the Parliament and elections to it. In 1008KF he married Dolores Lyttleton and some time after she gave birth to their daughter Constance and their son August. In 1011KF Harding finally began to show a real interest in politics, and stood as a candidate for the Borough of Greenwall in the elections of that year. His party, the YKLP had merged with the gigantic Liberty Union to increase their chances of defeating the struggling New Conservative Alliance government, which they duly did by a giant landslide. Harding won his seat and was made a deputy to the Minister of Justice. However, in 1015KF, Emperor Tyenn closed the Parliament and the Noble Council. He dismissed the government and ruled by increasingly deranged decrees for the next 4 years. The experience changed Harding from a run-of-the-mill liberal into a revolutionary. He now openly advocated for the overthrow of not just Tyenn, but the House of Elegaria-An-Bagranthar; though he frequently flipped between advocating for a republic and the establishment of a new monarchical dynasty. The Constabulary arrested him once, but shortly released him since their loyalty to Tyenn was plummeting, much like the rest of the country. For the next few years, he toured the country, giving speeches alongside other members of the party to drum up support, and became empire-famous when he visited the site of the Tollenser Mining Disaster, proclaiming the mad projects of Emperor Tyenn I "a blight upon this country." Harding was involved in the planning of the attempted Coup of 1017KF, but had serious doubts about the coup's success since Empress Isabella had purged the palace court of all disloyalty and alienated most high ranking member of the royal family. He also had nothing in common with the leaders of the coup, who were all highly conservative barons and military officers. Following the failure of the coup, he continued to speak and write prolifically, and many began to see him as the obvious candidate for the eventual post-Tyenn government. The suicide of Tyenn and the subsequent Kymurian Civil War took place in the early summer of 1019. The northern provinces subsequently declared their independence from the Imperial court and began fighting both each other and the guarding Kymurian forces, but neither the Southern Provinces, Royal Army, Navy or Constabulary had a clear stance for or against the rebellion. The impotent state of the nobility and imperial power meant that a fierce power vacuum emerged, and the common middle class surged forward to fill it. The regent, Prince Oberon, realised that the nobility could no longer control the country like it once had, and so officially opened the Common Parliament of Kymuria in an attempt to stop the collapse of the empire. He invited the popular Harding to become the speaker of the new organisation, though Harding sought the far more powerful position of Prime Minister. However despite the concession, the northern and central regions began clamouring for independence. Both the court and Harding were fully aware that the "Emergency Detachment," an on-paper formation comprising of the Black Lion Guards, Royal Cascori Regiment and 4th Foot Guards Battalions (In all some 90,000 men) was the only force powerful enough to quell the revolutionaries. The court requested Harding's immediate return from his house just outside Saffira, but he repeatedly declined offers from the regency court for his return, first as the governor of Saffira, and then as Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet. Time was on his side, and Harding waited, using his "foot ailment" as a pretext to his continual refusal. After further pleas by the Court, Harding agreed and eventually left his manor for Saffira, becoming Prime Minister that week with complete emergency powers. Immediately after that he asked Prince Oberon to withdraw from politics, which forced the Prince to head north with the regiments he commanded to fight rebels around Mollburg City. This made way for Harding to form a new, predominantly Republican, cabinet of confidants, with only one noble as Minister of Justice. Meanwhile, in the ongoing chaos in the north, the Kymurians were slowly winning over the fractured revolutionary groups, and Harding knew that complete suppression of the revolution would end his usefulness to the regime and may lead to a restoration of the old order. However before he could address this, Prince Oberon and his men were disastrously repulsed and destroyed near Tallavinov, and forces in the north-east threatened to mutiny if the war did not end soon. Harding had the next-in-line, Prince Victor, exiled to Anjuin and assumed emergency powers in efforts to deal with the ruthlessly difficult military command. The growing republican sentiments of Kymuria favored the Marquess of Rochepart as a "president", but they were in a weak position militarily, so they negotiated with the technically vacant Saffira Imperial Court, which was headed by the late King Tyenn's nephew, the Duke of Elavor, using Harding as an intermediary. The Marquess agreed to Harding's "premiership" after some internal bickering. Harding now effectively ruled Kymuria as a dictator. He was able to put Kymuria proper back into a state of civil order by 1022KF, and began discussions with his cabinet over reforms, but the wars in the northern sections of the continent took up all of his attention. Harding was aware that granting independence to the states that requested it would be a colossal blow to his popularity, but saw no other option, since the military had lost control of the various insurgencies. As time wore on, Harding alienated many liberal and republican supporters by refusing to give up any of his dictatorial powers, or even begin to create a new framework for future governments. Simultaneously, he lost the support of the old nobility and conservative factions by confiscating ancestral estates, aggressively secularizing whatever institutions he could and draining the last of their influence in government. The common people finally gave up on him when his seemingly arbitrary and despotic "emergency" laws reached a suffocating crescendo, and his give-away of the continental empire was seen as cowardly by all factions. In 1033KF, a meticulously planned coup d'etat by the higher ranks of the military and nobility was able to rapidly secure the country, which had largely lost faith in Harding. As the last few Saffira garrisons laid down their arms or joined the rebels, Harding was able to escape the city in a car requisitioned from the Zeor Embassy. He and his entourage then made their way to Crennisford, but were captured and arrested. Harding was held in the High Cells of Saffira Dock Castle for three months, as various elements advocated his trial, release or even execution. The new Empress, Theodora I, quickly forgot about Harding and set about re-establishing the Imperial system that he had dismantled. She soon re-opened the Noble Council and the Common Parliament, then set about rapidly industrializing the country and fostering an economic boom. The Empress ordered that Harding and his family be sent back to their estate outside Saffira and placed under a close guard. Harding was fatigued, and the complications of his earlier artillery accident, plus the stress of ruling Kymuria had led to a stroke just after his removal from power. He became quite reclusive and refused to leave his house for any reason. In 1034KF, Harding's health recovered well, and he began to make some limited public appearances. In a move to promote her policy of general amnesty, Theodora gave him a generous state pension and added him to the official list of political guests, though he rarely attended these events due to his persona non grata status among the restored nobility. He was most disappointed by the fact that not one Liberal club or association invited him to speak or visit them after his deposition. Later Life & Death At the age of 65, Harding once again attempted to renew his legal career as an independent solicitor, but no clients were forthcoming. He coped very badly with his "retired" life, and grew extremely agitated by his inability to pursue anything meaningful. He did begin to attend state events again and apparently was able to secure a private audience with the Empress, although relations between the two remained cold, and the Prince Consort, Maximilian, refused to even stay within the royal city if Harding visited there. In early 1035KF, Harding had taken a brief holiday in Brabont before returning as a guest of honor to the State Opening of the Council and Chambers that year, where he was noted to be "cold and withdrawn." Three days later, Harding left with his small entourage in two four-seat state carriages to return to his manor after a dinner at the Dwight Palace. Harding traveled in the front passenger seat, facing the rear of the carriage alongside his surprising new friend; Damion Butler, a secretary for the Jubilee Alliance Party, which Harding detested. Sir Reginald Eckelstaff, a friend of Harding's, traveled in the other carriage with two bodyguards. By 9:00pm, the streets were crowded with people leaving a local festival event. Harding's carriage stopped at a warden's post on the crossroads that intersected Carron Boulevard and South Fairfax Avenue, just 50 yards from the entrance to the Imperial City. A fast, two-wheeled taxi-style carriage pulled by two stallions and driven by a coachman in a black cloak pulled up alongside Harding's vehicle. The passenger of the carriage, a Hokasan male dressed in a blue suit and bow tie, pulled down his window, drew a 9 mm blue-steel three-shot sparkpistol revolver and fired at the carriage; two bullets hit Harding, while the other lodged in Butler's shoulder. His entourage rushed him to the General Central Infirmary, where doctors performed an emergency thoracotomy, but he was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m. The assassin's carriage thundered off into the crowds, never to be found despite extensive investigations by the RKC. It has been suspected that Empress Theodora may have been involved in the incident, however the main flaw in this theory is that Secretary Butler, a close ally and friend of Theodora's, was injured in the shooting and very nearly could have been killed.